Destiny 2
February 2024
Currently just vibing in this limbo period before The Final Shape. I log in every week to look at the store, loot the Vow secret chest in the swamp, and ponder completing my seasonal story missions. I play Iron Banner every time it comes around, and occasionally run the latest dungeon (as of writing this, it’s Warlord’s Ruin) if my friends invite me. Otherwise I’m on sabbatical.
When it’s peak season though, Destiny is very consuming. I like doing just about everything except competitive PVP (though admittedly, I also play zero gambit). I used to be pretty into endgame PVE, but lately I’ve been too lazy to keep up with buildcrafting and weapons, and I don’t farm stuff anymore. I’m just biding my time til the expansion now.
I’ve written more about it in my media recaps: 2023, 2022.
Older thoughts
I wrote this way back in like, 2021 or 2022.
My friends know I play this a lot. How do I articulate my obsession with it? It’s been an all-consuming game throughout the pandemic, and I’ve made a lot of friends playing it. I will try to explain.
A Brief Overview
Destiny 2 is a first-person shooter, set in space. You have space magic abilities, shoot lots of different guns, and can play cooperatively with friends or competitively with other players. There are lots of different activities to do, though they are all essentially about shooting alien enemies. Difficulty is added in the form of puzzle mechanics, platforming, time constraints, and tougher enemies.
Why do I like it?
Social Activities
In my opinion, Destiny is a superb social game. There’s always something to do, and everything can be done with friends. Most of the time, the activities you do are relaxed enough that you can hang out and shoot aliens together; in more challenging activities, you actively work together to complete them, which is also fun. But you can also play many things by yourself, which is relaxing.
Gunplay and Abilities
People often say Destiny’s ‘gunplay’ is good, which I think means that the feel or experience of shooting guns in Destiny is good. Destiny was the second shooter game I’ve played, so I don’t have much to compare it to, but I can say I do indeed enjoy shooting the guns. I didn’t think I would be interested in FPS games! But it turns out, I like it.
Destiny characters also use space magic (“abilities”), which are satisfying. I like blowing things up with grenades or shooting laser beams. It looks and feels cool.
Art and Sound Design
Destiny is a beautiful game. It’s set in space, so you’ve got a lot of different fantastical settings. The soundtrack is incredible, and elevates the gameplay. Guns all make different sounds, and they add to the overall experience.
Things I don’t like
Destiny isn’t without its flaws—a running joke among players is that they all hate the game despite having thousands of hours in it. And there’s a lot to dislike about the game!
- It’s very grindy – the most challenging and rewarding activities are locked behind level requirements; to gain XP, you have to do a lot of other activities that are often neither challenging nor rewarding. Leveling resets every few months. Grinding specific rewards relies on RNG to get the thing you want—and sometimes you don’t.
- Complicated, poorly explained mechanics – nothing in Destiny makes any sense unless you have a friend to explain it to you. Trying to get into the game is an exercise in frustration, because the tutorial/new player experience is abysmal.
I also used to make reference sites for it: